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Easter attacks

The 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka: the inquiries, court rulings and 2026 convictions that followed, the allegations aired in 2023, and the 2026 arrest of former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay. Dashed links are allegations or arrests that no court has upheld.

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PeopleIn custodyOn bailConvictedOrganisationsCases and eventsEaster attacksThe Rajapaksa familyPresidents since 2019Politicians and investigatorsGalagoda Aththe GnanasaraThe LTTE war, 1983 to 2009The Treasury bond casesThe 2022 economic crisisDisappearances and wartime killingsWar accountability at the UNCommunal violence and state force, 2013 to 2019Attacks on journalists and media, 2009 to 2026Disasters, 2004 to 2025Colombo Metro bus service, 2025 to 2026

People (51)

• Abdul LatheefDeceased
  • Identified by community leaders as the bomber whose device went off hours after the others
• Abdul Latheef Mohamed SafiConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Abdul Manaf Mohamed FirdousConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Abu Hanifa Mohamed MusifConvicted
  • Defendant in the Wanathawilluwa explosives case
• Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Mohamed
  • Charged by the US Department of Justice in January 2021 with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation
• Alahudeen Ahamed Muaad
  • Named by police as the suicide bomber at St. Anthony’s Shrine, Kochchikade
• Ali Sabry
  • Former minister
• Amir Hamza Mohamed HamasConvicted
  • Defendant in the Wanathawilluwa explosives case
• Ananda Wijepala
  • Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs since November 2024
• Anura Kumara Dissanayake
  • President of Sri Lanka since September 2024; leader of the National People’s Power
• Atchchi Muhammadu Muhammadu Hasthun
  • Named by police as the suicide bomber at St. Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya
• Athuraliye Rathana Thera
  • Buddhist monk (Venerable); fasted in June 2019 demanding resignations
• Azath Salley
  • Former Member of Parliament
• Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith
  • Catholic cardinal in Sri Lanka
• Dappula de Livera
  • Attorney General in 2019
• Dileepa Peiris
  • Additional Solicitor General; presents the prosecution’s submissions in the Sallay proceedings
• Father Jude Krishantha Fernando
  • Director of mass communications, Archdiocese of Colombo
• Gotabaya Rajapaksa
  • President of Sri Lanka, elected November 2019; Defence Secretary until 2015
• Hanzeer Azad Maulana
  • Former spokesman for the TMVP party
• Harin Fernando
  • Minister of Tourism and Lands from July 2022; Minister of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure from September 2015
• Hemasiri FernandoConvictedIn custody
  • Defence Secretary at the time of the attacks
• Husainul Risvi Khalid SameerConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Ilham IbrahimDeceased
  • Spice trader named by AFP as a suicide bomber at the Shangri-La hotel
• Inshaf AhmedDeceased
  • Named by AFP as the bomber at the Cinnamon Grand hotel; older brother of Ilham Ibrahim
• Justice Janak de Silva
  • Court of Appeal judge who chaired the presidential commission on the attacks
• Justice S.I. Imam
  • Retired Supreme Court judge
• Kachchi Mohamed JesminConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• M. L. A. M. Hizbullah
• Maithripala Sirisena
  • President of Sri Lanka in 2019
• Mohamed Anwar Mohamed Riskan
  • Charged by the US Department of Justice in January 2021 with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation
• Mohamed Azam Mohamed Mubarak
  • Named by police as the suicide bomber at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo
• Mohamed Haniffa Zainul AbdeenConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Mohamed Ibrahim Sadiq AbdullahConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Mohamed Ibrahim Shahid Abdul HaqConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Mohamed Mansoor Mohamed SanasdeenConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Mohamed Mustapha Mohamed HarisConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Mohamed Nassar Mohamed Asad
  • Named by police as the suicide bomber at Zion Church, Batticaloa
• Mohamed NaufarConvictedIn custody
  • Preacher; identified by prosecutors as the ringleader who supported the bombers
• Mohamed Rameez Mohamed SajidConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Mohamed Saribu Adham LebbeConvictedIn custody
  • Defendant in the Easter attacks trial
• Nalaka Silva
  • Deputy Inspector General of police; head of the Terrorism Investigations Division until his arrest in September 2018
• Nilantha Jayawardena
  • Head of the State Intelligence Service at the time of the attacks
• Pillayan (Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan)In custody
  • Former State Minister; former chief minister of the Eastern Province
• Pujith JayasundaraConvictedIn custody
  • Inspector General of Police at the time of the attacks
• Ranil WickremesingheOn bail
  • President of Sri Lanka, 2022 to 2024; six-time prime minister; leader of the United National Party
• Rauff Hakeem
  • Former minister who began his career with the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress; joined the Samagi Jana Balawegaya in 2020
• Rishad Bathiudeen
  • Member of Parliament and former minister; Minister of Industries and Commerce from September 2015
• Ruwan Wijewardene
  • State Minister of Defence from 2015; senior adviser to President Wickremesinghe on climate change in 2024
• Sisira Mendis
  • National Intelligence Director at the time of the attacks
• Suresh SallayIn custody
  • Retired Major General; head of the State Intelligence Service, December 2019 to 2024
• Zahran HashimDeceased
  • Founder and leader of National Thowheed Jamaath

Organisations (13)

• Committee on the Channel 4 allegations
• Criminal Investigation Department
  • Police investigation unit
• Islamic State
  • Militant group
• Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem
• Military intelligence (Sri Lanka Army)
  • Army intelligence service
• National Police Commission
  • Police oversight commission
• National Thowheed Jamaath
  • Islamist group
• Parliamentary Select Committee on the Easter attacks
• Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter attacks
• Presidential committee on the Easter attacks, 2019
• State Intelligence Service
  • Sri Lanka’s main intelligence agency
• Terrorism Investigations Division
  • Police investigation unit
• United States Department of Justice
  • US government department

Cases and events (9)

• Batticaloa killings case, 2008
  • Three incidents in 2008 in which five people died in the Batticaloa District
• Contempt referral over protest statements, 2026
  • Statements made at a protest held from 7 to 15 July 2026 against the arrest of Suresh Sallay
• Disappearance of the Eastern University vice-chancellor, 2006
• Easter attacks trial verdict, 22 September 2026
• Easter Sunday attacks, 21 April 2019
• Resignations of Muslim ministers and two governors, 3 June 2019
• Supreme Court judgment, 12 January 2023
• Trial of security chiefs, verdict 31 July 2026
• Wanathawilluwa explosives case
  • Explosives and other prohibited materials stockpiled on a property in the Lacto Watta area of Wanathawilluwa, Puttalam, in 2019

Documents and records (2)

• Channel 4 Dispatches: Sri Lanka's Easter Bombings
  • Television documentary
• Police intelligence memo of 11 April 2019
  • Letter signed by a Deputy Inspector General of police